TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - What happens to drinking when alcohol policy changes? A review of five natural experiments for alcohol taxes, prices, and availability
JO  - European journal of health economics
A1  - Nelson, Jon P.
A1  - McNall, Amy D.
SP  - 417
EP  - 434
VL  - 18
IS  - 4
N2  - Natural experiments are an important alternative to observational and econometric studies. This paper provides a review of results from empirical studies of alcohol policy interventions in five countries: Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Sweden, and Switzerland. Major policy changes were removal of quotas on travelers' tax-free imports and reductions in alcohol taxes. A total of 29 primary articles are reviewed, which contain 35 sets of results for alcohol consumption by various subpopulations and time periods. For each country, the review summarizes and examines: (1) history of tax/quota policy interventions and price changes; (2) graphical trends for alcohol consumption and liver disease mortality; and (3) empirical results for policy effects on alcohol consumption and drinking patterns. We also compare cross-country results for three select outcomes-binge drinking, alcohol consumption by youth and young adults, and heavy consumption by older adults. Overall, we find a lack of consistent results for consumption both within- and across-countries, with a general finding that alcohol tax interventions had selective, rather than broad, impacts on subpopulations and drinking patterns. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1618-7598
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10198-016-0795-0
ID  - ref1
ER  -